In the last 40 years, technology has revolutionized our society and, in the process, has introduced novel companies and products into our lives. These companies - and their products - can be opaque and difficult to understand, which, when combined with their often groundbreaking nature, has led to an uncertain regulatory environment. A new website, called The Markup, has launched in an effort to fill the void of knowledge about these products and hold the companies that misuse technology responsible.
The Markup was founded by the investigative journalist Julia Angwin, who serves as the editor in chief at the site, under the mantra of “show our work.” The website aims to educate readers not just through their in-depth investigative pieces, but also by providing readers with detailed explanations of their work, including source material (i.e. datasets and code) and detailed write-ups on methodology. The site established guiding principles based on the scientific method, which they have dubbed “The Markup Method.”
The Markup tackled pricing algorithms utilized by car insurance providers as their first story. They found that one company had used a secret algorithm to calculate insurance rates, which appeared to push prices up depending on whether the customer was likely to shop for a better deal.